Primary assessment in England Tom Treadwell
Objectives § Cover 2018 testing arrangements for key stages 1 and 2 § Provide an overview of developments at the national level § Questions and reflections
Primary assessment in England About the consultation § This consultation considered the long-term future of primary assessment in England. § It was mainly concerned with statutory assessment § best way to prepare children to succeed at school § best starting point to measure progress § proportionate and effective assessment system § improve end of key stage assessments § A parallel consultation sought views on the arrangements for pupils working below the standard of tests
Preparing children to succeed at school The early years foundation stage and profile (EYFSP) § Statutory assessment to assess a child’s level of development and readiness for school at age 5 § The consultation asked for views on: § Content of the EYFSP § Level of development categories § Appropriateness for SEND pupils § Impact on teacher workload and how it is moderated
Government response § We will explore the possibility of reducing the number of ELGs assessed and reported on § The descriptors for a typical level of development against the ELGs will be made clearer § The ELGs will be brought in line with KS1 § We will retain the existing categorisation of ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ and ‘exceeding’ but will consider introducing an additional band within ‘emerging’ § We will review the guidance for administering the EYFSP from a workload perspective § We will review the current approach to moderation
Best starting point for measuring progress Baseline assessment and progress measures New accountability measures introduced in 2016 § § Place greater emphasis on progress as a fairer way of assessing school effectiveness § Current progress measures use KS1 teacher assessment data as the baseline § The consultation asked for views on: § Whether we should move to a reception baseline assessment § The content and timing in the reception year § Accountability arrangements - infant, middle & junior schools § How to make KS1 teacher assessments more robust to use as a baseline
Government response § We intend to develop a new baseline as a statutory assessment, ready for introduction in reception by autumn 2020 § The assessment will take place in the first half of the autumn half-term § We will continue to discuss the detail of the assessment with a wide range of stakeholders as we develop the assessment § The prime focus of the assessment will be on skills which can be reliably assessed and which correlate with attainment in English and mathematics at the end of KS2 § We will continue to work with the sector to fully consider the options for progress measures for infant/middle/junior schools
Role of KS1 statutory assessments § If a new reception assessment were used as the baseline for measuring progress, end of KS1 assessments would no longer be used § Should end of KS1 assessment become non-statutory, once a reception baseline is fully established § Should we produce optional tests materials for use at the end of KS1 § Should STA sample end of KS1 assessments
Government response § We will make end of KS1 assessment non-statutory as soon as the reception baseline assessment becomes fully established (we intend to make this change from the 2022/23 academic year onwards) § We will continue to use KS1 assessments as the baseline for progress measures up until this point § We will make optional end-of-key stage 1 tests available for schools to use however they see fit. § To ensure we have an ongoing picture of standards nationally we will periodically sample key stage 1 assessment data from a small, representative sample of primary schools.
A proportionate assessment system Statutory teacher assessment at the end of KS2 § Schools currently report: § Teacher assessment data for reading, writing, mathematics and science § Test data in English reading, mathematics and English grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) § KS2 test results in English reading and mathematics are used to measure school performance in these subjects § The consultation asked for views on the continuation of statutory teacher assessment in English reading and mathematics, where test data is used for accountability purposes KS1 grammar, punctuation and spelling test § Introduced in 2016, remains non-statutory for 2017
Government response We will remove the statutory requirement for schools to report § teacher assessment judgements at the end of KS2 where test data is used for accountability purposes. This will happen from the 2018/19 academic year onwards § The KS1 GPS test will remain non-statutory in future years
A proportionate assessment system Multiplication tables check (MTC) § DfE plans to introduce MTC from 2019 to 2020 academic year § The consultation asks for views on: § Implementation of the check § Timing of the check § How to limit the burden of administering the MTC
Government response § The MTC will take place at the end of year 4. This corresponds with the point in the national curriculum by which pupils are expected to know their times tables § Schools will have a window in which they can administer the assessment and there will be no requirement for a class to take the check at the same time § The check will be brief and administered online with an offline option available if necessary. Results will be available to teachers instantly with no additional data submission burdens § We are undertaking an extensive trialling and will run a large-scale pilot in the 2018/19 academic year
Improving teacher assessment § Following the removal of national curriculum levels, interim TA frameworks were introduced in the 2015/16 academic year § Contain a series of ‘pupil can’ statements that make use of a ‘secure fit’ model to assess pupils § Approach is appropriate for reading, mathematics and science but writing warrants a different approach to assessment § The consultation asked for views on: § Whether the statutory assessment of writing should be made more flexible § Approaches to the assessment and moderation of writing that should be explored in the future §
Government response § We have moved to a more flexible approach for assessing English writing this year § Teachers can now use their discretion to ensure that, on occasion, a particular weakness does not prevent an accurate judgement of a pupil’s attainment overall being made § The pupil can statements for this subject have also been changed to place a greater emphasis on composition, while statements relating to the more ‘technical’ aspects of English writing (grammar, punctuation and spelling) are less prescriptive § The reading, mathematics and science frameworks will continue to use the previous approach
Government response § The interim pre-key stage standards have also been updated to reflect these changes § Updated frameworks in reading and mathematics at KS1 and science at KS1 and KS2 will be introduced from the 2018/19 academic year onwards § Supporting exemplification materials reflecting these changes have also been published § We will work with the sector to explore the use of comparative judgement § We will run a small-scale pilot of the peer-to-peer model of moderation this year
Rochford Review consultation Parallel consultation
Inclusive assessment § The final report recommends: § Removing statutory requirement to use P scales to report attainment and progress of pupils with SEND § Interim pre-key stage standards made permanent and extended to include all pupils engaged in subject-specific learning § The consultation asked for views on: § Important information which may no longer be available if P scales were removed § If pre-key stage standards are clear and easy to understand § If they support and encourage progression onto statutory national curriculum tests for pupils who are able to do so
Government response § We will remove the requirement to assess pupils engaged in subject- specific learning using P scales from the 2018/19 academic year onwards § We will make the interim pre-key stage standards permanent and extend them to cover all pupils engaged in subject-specific learning from 2018/19 onwards § We will produce a suite of exemplification materials to support teachers making judgements using the pre-key stage standards
Assessment for pupils not engaged in subject-specific learning § The final report recommends: § Drawing on 4 areas of need in SEND Code of Practice, assessment focuses on cognition & learning § A statutory duty to assess against 7 aspects of engagement for cognition and learning § Schools decide own approach to make assessments appropriate for needs of pupils and curriculum followed The consultation asked for views on: § § If statutory assessment should focus on cognition and learning § Whether assessing against the 7 aspect of engagement is the right model
Recommend
More recommend
